Newark,
NJ – Gov. Jon S. Corzine joined state,
Newark and federal officials today in announcing
$3 million in federal grants to support
prisoner re-entry programs in Newark that
are aimed at reintegrating ex-offenders
into their community with the help of education,
training and job-readiness programs. The
U.S. Department of Labor grants will be
matched by more than $2 million in funds
from non-profit foundations, as well as
supplemental programs and services from
the state.

Prisoner
re-entry programs are a key part of Gov.
Corzine’s Safe Streets and Neighborhoods
strategy to aggressively attack violent
crime and street gangs trafficking in guns
and narcotics. Unveiled last October, the
anti-crime plan has three components –
prevention, enforcement, and re-entry –
each of which is indispensable to the state’s
overarching strategy.

"Our
strategy for safe streets and neighborhoods
is based on a comprehensive approach that
involves prevention, enforcement and re-entry.
Deterring ex-offenders from falling back
into a life of crime has to be part of the
equation,'' Gov. Corzine said. "The
support the state is receiving today from
the federal government is an important signal
that, to be successful in our fight against
violent crime, we have to attack from all
angles and form partnerships at all levels
of government and with grassroots organizations.
It allows for a full range of services to
give ex-offenders the support they need
to become productive members of their communities."

The
federal funding will pay for services to
ex-offenders and support the New Jersey
Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s
One-Stop Career Center in Newark. Every
year in New Jersey approximately 14,000
adult inmates and 1,600 juvenile offenders
are released from correctional facilities,
but the recidivism rate is high. Sixty percent
of adults released will be re-arrested within
three years, and 37 percent of juveniles
will return to correctional facilities within
two years.

As
part of the Governor’s anti-crime
strategy, the state – through the
Office of the Attorney General -- pulled
together the Department of Corrections,
the Department of Labor and Workforce Development,
and the State Parole Board to reduce recidivism
rates through education, counseling, and
job training and job readiness programs.

One
major state initiative which began earlier
this year is called Another Chance, which
is a demonstration project involving more
than 1,300 inmates who will be returning
to Newark, Trenton, or Camden. The project
coordinates initiatives that begin while
an offender is in prison and continue after
release. Another Chance is designed to assess
how well prisoners successfully re-enter
society when they are supported by intensive
diagnostic assessments, and expanded educational,
vocational and job-coaching programs.

"This
collaborative re-entry effort is not only
about turning individual lives around, it's
about improving the quality of life throughout
entire communities," said Attorney
General Anne Milgram. "The more successful
we are at helping ex-offenders to become
productive, law-abiding citizens by providing
them with education, training and hope,
the safer our streets and neighborhoods
will be."

a matching grant of $2 million to Newark,
for redistribution to community vendors
for job-readiness services

$480,000 to the state Department of Labor
and Workforce Development to provide technical
assistance to Newark and the local One
Stop center; and

$300,000 to outside vendors to develop
opportunities for other jurisdictions
to learn from the Newark PRI experience

The
first grant - the $2 million for job-readiness
services - is matched by $1.7 million from
the Nicholson Foundation, and $300,000 from
the New Jersey Council of Grantmakers as
well as four other foundations – the
Achelis-Bodman Foundation, the Joan Ganz
Cooney Foundation via the New York Community
Trust, the Victoria Foundation, and the
Edison Fund/Edison Innovation Foundation.

The
$4 million for PRI services will be distributed
primarily to faith-based and community-based
organizations that will provide case management,
life coaching, and job-mentoring services.

The
grant has a 30-month timeline, supporting
services to ex-offenders for two years after
a six-month implementation period. More
than 1,300 ex-offenders are expected to
participate during the two- year period.

The
state will also make available several hundred
thousand dollars in job coaching and job
placement services. The state labor department’s
One Stop will provide job-placement services.
The Department of Corrections, in addition,
will work with the city to provide pre-release
discharge planning for PRI participants.

Through
the Governor’s Another Chance program,
the connections between these three agencies
have been strengthened in unprecedented
ways. These connections, ensuring a seamless
delivery of services to ex-offenders, are
critical to the success of re-entry efforts.

"Recidivism
is a costly proposition, both in terms of
human suffering and the inevitable financial
burden on New Jersey's taxpayers,’’
said Corrections Commissioner George Hayman.
“We all win when public agencies --federal,
state, county and municipal -- as well as
non-profit foundations work together to
assist ex-offenders to overcome barriers
to successful community reintegration."

“Research
and experience show that re-entry programs
work to reduce recidivism and help ex-prisoners
become productive, law-abiding citizens,”
said State Parole Board Chairman Peter J.
Barnes Jr.
“This grant will strengthen the partnerships
we have built, to break the cycle of crime
and re-incarceration.”

New
Jersey Labor Commissioner David J. Socolow
said, “Governor Corzine’s Public
Safety Plan recognizes that the single greatest
factor in keeping offenders from returning
to prison is a job. The New Jersey Department
of Labor and Workforce Development offers
employment assistance to ex-offenders through
local One-Stop Career Centers, where trained
specialists can help ex-offenders connect
with job opportunities.”

Socolow noted that the Department funds
Workforce Learning Link Centers in six state
correctional facilities. He explained that
these Workforce Learning Links enable inmates
to better prepare for job opportunities
in the workplaces to which they are returning.

“We
urge employers throughout the state to maximize
the use of the programs and tax incentives
that we offer to encourage businesses to
hire these individuals, as well as the training
grants we offer to help employers train
their incumbent and newly hired workers,”
Socolow said.

The Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative provides
funds to state governments to implement
prison and community-based re-entry programs
for non-violent offenders. PRI grants are
administered by the federal Office of Justice
Programs, the Bureau of Justice Assistance,
and the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department
of Labor grants generally support post-release
services such as employment assistance and
mentoring.